Free Family Fun At National Night Out In Gloucester Twp Area Tuesday

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — National Night Out returns to Gloucester Township on Tuesday, the municipality's police department said on its Facebook page.

An estimated 38 million people are expected to participate in one of approximately 16,000 National Night Out events across the United States that will be held this year, according to the National Association of Town Watch, an organization that helps facilitate many National Night Out festivities.

These days, the annual event usually consists of carnivals, block parties, barbecues or other free events organized by communities and police departments that are geared toward the whole family enjoying, according to the U.S. Justice Department, which helped establish National Night Out.

Simultaneously, crime prevention messages are conveyed and relationships between law enforcement and residents are fostered, the U.S. Justice Department continued.

The 2022 National Night Out in Blackwood runs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Blackwood Fire Company on Central Avenue in Blackwood, the police department said.

• Bellmawr = 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the recreation center
• Clementon = 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Garfield Avenue behind Wooster Tower*
• Lindenwold = 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Memorial Park on United States Avenue
• Magnolia = 6 p.m. to ??? at the borough's Little League Fields
• Pine Hill = 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Overbrook High School's practice football field on Turnersville Road
• Runnemede = 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Harry E. Williams Jr. Senior Center on Broadway
• Sicklerville = 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Erial Fire Company on Williamstown-Erial Road in the town
• Somerdale = 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the police station on Kennedy Boulevard
• Stratford = 6:30 p.m. at the open field space within Parkview School on Parkview Road
• Winslow = 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. behind the high school

*Note that Clementon is holding its National Night Out event on Monday.

The National Night Out events being held this year are much different than some of the first National Night Out celebrations held in 1984, which were celebrated by roughly 2.5 million people in about 400 communities across the United States, according to the National Association of Town Watch.

One of those early events was in the Pennsylvania suburbs of Philadelphia, where residents participated by turning on their porch lights, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Another early National Night Out celebration held in Boston consisted of a public reading of a proclamation that discussed the significance of the day and the event, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

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